Mr. Speaker, the government is not really interested in taking lessons from the Liberals on arts because it has done more for the arts community in the last year and a half than the Liberals did in 13 years.
When we formed the government, the Canada Council of the Arts was in need of more funding and we delivered $50 million.
In terms of festivals, the Arts Presentation Canada program supports some 600 festivals and series in 225 communities each year.
Our budget this year announced an additional $60 million over two years for festivals and this new program will be ready to go in the fall.
Then there is Cultural Spaces Canada, $30 million annually, 408 projects across the country; Endowment Incentives, the money requested growing from $8.2 million to $25 million over the last five years, which has leveraged $74 million in donations to endowments from the private sector. The government takes art seriously.